Pushing back on the status quo

By Dani Sheehan. 

When you’re a small business owner, everything is for sale. Learn how to think like an entrepreneur and improve your success through innovative business practices. 

In a recent MetalCast, Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down with Robert “Bobby” Mesmer of RMG Erectors & Constructors of Montana, LLC to continue their conversation from an earlier episode about the overall erector business. They discuss the ins and outs of business, covering succession, mergers and acquisitions and more. As the owner of multiple businesses, including one of the world’s largest metal building erector companies, Bobby’s insight is invaluable to the industry. 

“Businesses tend to replicate other businesses,” Bobby begins. He feels this is especially true in the construction industry, where everyone is used to doing things in a certain way. You learn the business operations and the installation processes, and you continue to teach others the way you learned because that’s just the way it is. But Bobby counters, saying, “The problem is that everybody does it the same old way and nobody's innovative. Nobody's looking at things differently. Nobody looks at ways to cater to the client better, to cater to the end user better. What can I change in this industry? Part of that is the industry itself too. What you end up with is you end up with a little bit of condescending-ness from the industry itself.” 

As an entrepreneur, Bobby says opportunity is important. Owning your own business requires constantly looking for ways to improve and having the confidence that the decisions you make at the top will support those improvements. One of the first companies he started outside his current business was a distribution center. He received a lot of pushback in the industry because others felt that’s not the way business works. He explained it, saying, “If I could distribute those products to myself, and then take that margin, instead of putting that margin in my pocket, pass that margin along to the customer, pass that savings along to the customer, it creates a spread between my bid and the next person's bid. Guarantees me the work, I control more of the product, and I control my outcome at that point.” 

Opportunity also comes when you consider selling your business. Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast for a deeper understanding of when to sell and when not to sell for greater success in your business.